As per new data, seven of the ten Indian districts with the highest COVID-19 positivity rate are from the state of Maharashtra. The state is also leading in terms of COVID-19 deaths as it breached the 20,000- mark not too long ago.
Districts like Raigad with a 31.7 per cent positivity rate is topping the national list while Thane currently has a positivity rate of 29.4 per cent. Second to Maharashtra in terms of the most affected states is Bihar, with districts like Rohtas, Darbhanga, and Patna securing third, fifth, and ten spots in the national list.
Districts in Maharashtra like Nashik (26.7 per cent), Dhule (25.7 per cent), Pune (23.4 per cent), Jalgaon (22 per cent) and Satara (21 per cent) are the other districts with the maximum positivity rate in the country.
The positivity rate of districts like Raigad and Thane are extremely worrying for the authorities considering that India’s positivity rate currently is at 7.7, while the state of Maharashtra has an overall positivity rate of 18 per cent. On the bright side, previous coronavirus hotspots like Mumbai and Delhi do not feature among the top 10 districts released by the officials.
Meanwhile, doctors have suggested that the higher positivity rate among the population goes to show that there are a large number of undetected cases of the virus, adding that a fresh wave of the virus could be attributed to the reopening of the economy as well as a high movement of people in public.
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Dr Subhash Salunkhe who is a member of the State Technical Committee said, “The infection arrived in India through two major international hubs, Mumbai and Delhi. Thereafter, lockdown halted its spread to some extent but that couldn't have been stopped forever.“
Non-adherence to basic health safety rules are also contributing to the rise as per officials. Civil Surgeon of Dhule, Dr Manik Sangle said - “Here, there is also the issue of non-cooperation of people who despite being in containment zones don't wear masks or follow social distancing.”
It is said that in regions like Dhule, Jalgaon, and Nashik, a high number of cases are being reported from highways or industrial sections.
Tightly packed regions make it impossible to socially distance from one another, while there’s still some confusion among a section of the population as to what constitutes a protective mask. Experts have long suggested that thin-layered cloth coverings can do more harm than good, recommending the use of proper N-95 masks or homemade multi-layered cloth masks.
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